WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau, has approved the sale of WTVQ-DT, in Lexington, Kentucky from WTVQTV, LLC, an wholly-owned subsidiary of Morris Network, Inc. to Scripps.
The approval of the license transfer follows a March announcement by Scripps that it would pay $15.8 million for the ABC affiliate. The acquisition of WTVQ creates a duopoly with Scripps’ NBC affiliate, WLEX in Lexington, Kentucky.
The July 20 Order, denied a petition by DirecTV. It opposed the license transfer by arguing the combination would create “direct economic harm” by forcing it to pay higher prices for programming.
“[W]e find that the proposed transaction fully complies with the Commission’s rules, including the post-Zimmer Radio Local Television Ownership Rule, and that there are no issues or potential public interest harms identified in the record that would require further consideration,” the FCC concluded. “Notably, while the Commission will consider transaction-specific objections to otherwise rule-compliant transactions, we find that DIRECTV has failed to advance any such objections. Accordingly, we conclude that grant of the Application will result in public interest benefits and serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.”
The full Order is available here.
